While return-to-office mandate are often framed in terms of productivity and collaboration, they have real impact on culture and inclusion. They may even pose a discrimination legal risk.

Why celebrating and recognising your people can do more for your culture than any training or team-building exercise.

This year’s International Non-Binary People's Day arrives at a moment when the legal ground beneath non-binary people has shifted considerably in the UK, and the gap between what employers can do and what the law requires has rarely mattered more.

Make Psychological Safety real. It's not about creating a "nice" environment nor is it a licence for a "anything goes" culture.

Your inclusion dashboard is green, yet your best people are quietly updating their CVs. Both can be true at the same time. A quiet finding from The Conference Board this year deserves more attention than it's getting: executives are considerably more optimistic about the impact of their inclusion efforts than their own employees are. And many programmes, the research notes, fall short of their intended goals. That gap between the view from the boardroom and the lived experien

Engagement just hit a five-year low, and no region of the world improved. The fix isn't another initiative — it's the person your people report to. Gallup's 2026 figures should stop every leadership team in its tracks: global employee engagement has fallen to 20% — the lowest since 2020 — costing an estimated $10 trillion in lost productivity. In the five years, no region of the world has improved. We keep treating this as a motivation problem. It's not. Instead, it's a conn

The term "white privilege" continues to be a lightning rod. A while back, I wrote an article about how the term had been weaponised and suggested it might be time to ditch it. A few years on, we are still having the same conversations. Recently, I listened to two people who often speak eloquently on issues of race – celebrated South African comedian and host Travor Noah and Femi Oluwole, a British political activist, journalist and co-founder of the pro-European Union advocac

DEI is under attack and yet its core principles and aims have never been more important.

The phrase "diversity of opinion" is to DEI work what #AllLivesMatter is to #BlackLivesMatter, a seemingly benign but extremely harmful attempt to obfuscate, devalue, and derail meaningful diversity efforts. It has no place in serious DEI Work. As a DEI consultant and lead, I cannot tell you how many times I have heard the phrase “Diversity of Opinion” being thrown around. In my opinion, the term is a lousy, clumsy, ridiculous excuse for justifying having more white men in th

In today's polarised society, the term "white privilege" has been weaponised. Ditching it may be the best way to move the conversation foward. Origin of the term “White Privilege” is an academic term that was supposedly coined by civil rights activist William Du Bois in the 1930s, but brought into academic prominence by anti-racism activist and writer Peggy McIntosh in her 1988 essay entitled White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. In the essay, Peggy wrote: “As a

Here is how to challenge language, behaviours, and actions that you find offensive and discomforting in the workplace. Remember, it's not about conflict or blame. It should be about building understanding. Sinead Bovell, founder of @wayetalks, offered a useful template of responses to racist comments. You can use this template to challenge language and behaviour you consider unacceptable.

Being an ally means you are tuned into the lived experiences of people who are different from you. If you are white, that means black and brown and minority people. If you are a man, it means women, if heterosexual it means those who are not, and so forth and so on. What does that mean in reality? It means you must always have your antenna up and be ready and prepared to: ​Engage Listen Empathise Observe Acknowledge Challenge Educate Learn Engage Be

Allyship is a committment to a cause that does not affect one. After the murder of George Floyd in 2020, “allyship” was in vogue. But I noticed one concerning trend. It appeared the concept of allyship became associated with a specific group of people. In most cases people who outwardly sought to or declared themselves allies were mostly, if not exclusively, liberal and white. But that was my observation based solely on my examination of what I saw around me, in my personal

In today's polarised society, the term "white privilege" has been weaponised. Ditching it may be the best way to move the conversation foward. Origin of the term “White Privilege” is an academic term that was supposedly coined by civil rights activist William Du Bois in the 1930s, but brought into academic prominence by anti-racism activist and writer Peggy McIntosh in her 1988 essay entitled White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. In the essay, Peggy wrote, “As a

Most leaders focus on and agonise over diversity targets, data, and success stories. But the ones who create real, lasting inclusive cultures invest in something else - the small things. Most leaders in organisations big and small spend a disproportionate amount of their time worrying about making a tangible difference on diversity and inclusion within their organisations. They worry about diversity and inclusion data and stats. How many new black or brown people did we hire

Microaggressions can be difficult to grasp, especially if they arise from common phrases and words we use often without any bad intentions.

What can go wrong with allyship, even for well-meaning allies.

How to become a better ally in 8 easy steps

Microaggressions: What they are and how to deal with them at individual level

Data on diversity and inclusion suggests top-down diversity and inclusion initiatives have made little impact. Here is why.